UK Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has resigned from her post following revelations that she didn’t pay the requisite stamp duty on an apartment she acquired.

The UK has a reputation for high standards of governance and accountability for government officials.

Ethics Adviser Sir Laurie Magnus found Rayner had breached the ministerial code and therefore Rayner had to go.

Rayner hoped to cling on after she made a tearful plea, insisting she was badly advised on the stamp duty she had to pay on the apartment she acquired in Hove.

Sir Laurie made it clear that Rayner failed to get advice from tax experts on her stamp duty obligations and that this was unacceptable from a Deputy Prime Minister. Ignorance was no defence for a British Member of Parliament.

The deputy prime minister, therefore, had to go, given that Prime Minister Sir Keir Starker has insisted that a hallmark of his administration will be stamping out corruption and irregular behaviour in public life. He trusted the deputy PM and, alas, she did not pay the required £40,000 in stamp duty on her £800,000 apartment.

Angela Rayner was in an untenable position and the prime minister could not save her.

On her resignation, Sir Keir Starker wrote: “ You have been a trusted colleague and a true friend for many years. I have nothing but admiration for you and huge respect for your achievements in government.”

The UK prime minister has now reshuffled his Cabinet as both his and the Labour Party’s popularity ratings plummet.

David Lammy replaces Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister and moves down from Foreign Secretary to become Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper now replaces Lammy as Foreign Secretary. Shabana Mahmood is promoted to Home Secretary. She was the Justice Secretary. Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell and Scotland Secretary Ian Murray have both been axed from the Cabinet.

Speaking from London, former Lambeth Councillor Ian Hitchens said: “In the UK, we have high governance standards and expect MPs and Cabinet members to meet them. Angela Rayner always had to go. People here would view her non-compliance as unacceptable. The Opposition are right to scrutinise her affairs and draw attention to her error. The rules apply to everybody, more so those in high positions. They cannot be seen to be negligent.”